man and boy

Harry Silver has it all: a beautiful wife, a wonderful son, a great job in the media - but in one night he throws it all away. Then Harry must start to learn what life and love are really all about. 

If I count up, I spent approximately seven hours on reading this 344 pages long book. I'm surprised, a bit taken back if you will. I saw the cover of this book and read the plot. It didn't spark that much of an interest in me, but I read the first paragraph of chapter one, and I was almost hooked. Usually I'd leave it behind, because I don't really like reading books about cheating. Call me a naive girl (or, well, maybe woman since I've turned 20) that likes happiness, sugar and rainbows if you want, but cheating is a subject I avoid most of the time. It's just that most of the time it's too much angst and sad stuff for my liking. But the first pages looked rather humorous, and I figured I'd give it a shot. The last three books I've read have been in Norwegian, so it was rather refreshing to read an English book. Also, originally I thought the plot was set in America, but I was pleasantly surprised when I realised they were in England. Sorry Americans, but I really do love England. And as if that's not enough, there's an Irish character, who uses the word "eejit". I cannot explain how happy that little word made me (it's a sentimental thing for me). Also, somehow I didn't read the bit about the book being tear-jerking at the cover. Of course I ended up crying about 1/3 of the book. I would love to be able to pinpoint why I was so pleasantly surprised. But I guess I was just thinking it would be another OK book, and nothing special. And it's not that special. The plot is actually very ordinary - it happens to people every day. But maybe that's the thing: Tony Parsons managed to make something ordinary exciting. It's a really great book, and it's a new favorite of mine. It's actually very well written, and you'll find a lot of nice life philosophy. "Sometimes we are only aware of how happy we are when the moment has passed. But now and again, if we are very lucky, we are aware of happiness when it is actually happening". I was reading most of the book outside in the rather morose weather, but it suited the mood of the book, and as always I was listening to music whilst reading. My brain is rather focused on reading though, the music is mostly just to block out everything else. And seriously, I was listening to In My Veins by Andrew Belle, and the second I turned the page and started reading chapter 38: "'The world is changing', said Nigel Batty" Andrew Belle sang: "everything will change. Nothing stays the same". It was just the funniest coincidence ever. Holy shit, just found the sequel. But it's not available in the local library. I actually loved Man and Boy so much, I might just go ahead and order the sequel Man and Wife online. I'm just afraid to be disappointed, is all. You know when you find something you love, like book series or an album, and then you love it to death. But then the sequel isn't as great, and you end up being really disappointed because you had such high hopes. But I've gone to the library to borrow another Tony Parsons book. It's called My Favourite Wife. But I have a feeling it's not as good.. anyway, I just wanted to recommend Man and Boy. It's been a long while since I last found a book I couldn't put down, but this was just really great. Funny, sad and just really good.